Motiejunas to the EuroLeague?

Post #1 » by **Mr. E** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 1:58 am

I've seen a couple reports saying that there is mutual interest between Donatas Motiejunas and the Darussafaka Dogus basketball club in Istanbul, Turkey. Dave Blatt is the coach of that club. I do not know the credibility of these sources, so I haven't posted them; but once I see someone I have a read on then I'll pass that along.

It sounds like they do not like the offers that they have received from the Rockets. How that might change with a European club showing interest may spur this whole situation towards a conclusion.

RightToCensor · Post #2 » by **RightToCensor** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 2:02 am

Please god no. Don't leave us D-Mo!

giberish · Post #3 » by **giberish** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 2:06 am

Would Houston care? They'd still have RFA rights if he returns to the NBA.

K_chile22 · Post #4 » by **K_chile22** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 2:17 am

giberish wrote:Would Houston care? They'd still have RFA rights if he returns to the NBA.

Yeah this doesn't do a whole lot for Dmo. Maybe shows he can stay healthy against weaker competition but I don't see why he wouldn't just play this year out

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Kilo · Post #5 » by **Kilo** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 11:18 am

He should have signed the QO, played out the year and then became a UFA. Will he make more in Turkey than the QO would have paid him in Houston?

stitches · Post #6 » by **stitches** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 11:30 am

What is his health situation? I can't believe nobody is willing to give him a contract? Is his injury that bad?

Post #7 » by **HartfordWhalers** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 11:41 am

stitches wrote:What is his health situation? I can't believe nobody is willing to give him a contract? Is his injury that bad?

RFA's need to be offered 3 year deals. So, you need to either get him on board with something like 10/10(ung)/10(ung) which starts to look like a 1 year deal without the upper end of the upside to the player, or risk multiple years when the new CBA sounds like it has no amnesty. And either way to do so, you need cap space.

the_process · Post #8 » by **the_process** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 12:21 pm

He should've just taken his QO. I know injuries are why he didn't, but at this point at least he would've been a UFA this upcoming summer.

Post #9 » by **Slava** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 12:46 pm

This is the kind of gamble Brooklyn should still make, instead of bringing on Scola, Booker and other assorted journeyman in throwaway seasons.

Post #10 » by **Smitty731** » Sat Oct 22, 2016 6:08 pm

Motiejunas has standing offers from several clubs in Europe. He's as healthy as he's going to be. The back is a constant worry, but no more so than injuries that are worrisome for a lot of players.

He's still holding out to see if something pops in the NBA, but it is looking more and more like he'll head to Europe for a year and then come back and go through the whole circus again next summer. But this time he may just sign the QO and gain his freedom in the summer of 2018.

K_chile22 · Post #11 » by **K_chile22** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 1:22 am

Smitty731 wrote:Motiejunas has standing offers from several clubs in Europe. He's as healthy as he's going to be. The back is a constant worry, but no more so than injuries that are worrisome for a lot of players.

He's still holding out to see if something pops in the NBA, but it is looking more and more like he'll head to Europe for a year and then come back and go through the whole circus again next summer. But this time he may just sign the QO and gain his freedom in the summer of 2018.

So why didn't he just sign the QO this year? Did his agent keep filling his head with "oh I'll get you money from some team" or something? I'd fire my agent if I had to leave and come back just to take the QO

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Spens1 · Post #12 » by **Spens1** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 2:11 am

Why would he leave the nba, he's more than good enough and playing in turkey isn't going to do him any good either, plus he'd get paid less arguably.

Not to mention he's D'Antoni's dream as a bench big (him an Capella as a starting front court is a real possibility).

Post #13 » by **Mr. E** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:13 am

Smitty731 wrote:Motiejunas has standing offers from several clubs in Europe. He's as healthy as he's going to be. The back is a constant worry, but no more so than injuries that are worrisome for a lot of players.

He's still holding out to see if something pops in the NBA, but it is looking more and more like he'll head to Europe for a year and then come back and go through the whole circus again next summer. But this time he may just sign the QO and gain his freedom in the summer of 2018.

Have you picked up any indications that he is not thrilled with the D'Antoni system? I'm hoping that is not the case because the way the Rockets are constructed now seems tailor-made for Motiejunas.

It is interesting to note that he has multiple offers in Europe. His camp has not seemed to advertise that; but then again they have been pretty tight-lipped (other than complaining (rightfully, IMO) about the RFA process).

vannzee · Post #14 » by **vannzee** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:58 am

What a waste if he returns to Europe.

Houston seems to be fine with Dekker at the 4.

spaceballer · Post #15 » by **spaceballer** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 11:09 am

K_chile22 wrote:
Smitty731 wrote:Motiejunas has standing offers from several clubs in Europe. He's as healthy as he's going to be. The back is a constant worry, but no more so than injuries that are worrisome for a lot of players.

He's still holding out to see if something pops in the NBA, but it is looking more and more like he'll head to Europe for a year and then come back and go through the whole circus again next summer. But this time he may just sign the QO and gain his freedom in the summer of 2018.

So why didn't he just sign the QO this year? Did his agent keep filling his head with "oh I'll get you money from some team" or something? I'd fire my agent if I had to leave and come back just to take the QO

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If he can't reach a deal with the Rockets, I think the path forward for him is to go do 1 yr in Europe to prove that he can stay healthy for a full year and play well. Then, come back into the league for a big contract next year.

One of the elements preventing other teams from giving him a big lengthy deal is the question mark over health coupled with the fact that it has to be at least 3yrs due to RFA offer restrictions and the fact that it has to be a high dollar deal to dissuade matching. That's a gamble with the health situation. The dilemma is further exacerbated right now by the fact that an amnesty is unlikely to be in the new CBA, so no get out of jail free card if the health concerns strike.

After a healthy year in Europe, that won't be a concern anymore. So he'd be more likely to get a better deal next year.

In addition, I don't know what the offers are in Europe. They may or may not possibly pay more than the QO. It may also be a better playing situation where he's a big fish in a small pond to dazzle ahead of free agency, compared to possibly being marginalized on the Rockets if they expect him to leave after the QO and want to devote more minutes to grooming a replacement, as well as structuring the system in a way that they won't feature him as much, expecting him to be gone from their system soon.

Further, he has a better chance of leaving the Rockets next year, because of changes in the new CBA. The new CBA does a better job of empowering RFA's to leave their incumbent teams with the changes in both signing and matching deadlines. So he may not have to sign a QO next summer and play it out in order to leave the Rockets. The new CBA makes it harder for teams to keep RFA's by eliminating one of the key cap benefits of matching RFA's (that you can currently do it after you've spent your cap or chased other players while taking advantage of a low cap hold -- not so in the new CBA due to the deadline changes).

So if he wants to leave the Rockets, he has a slightly better chance to do so under the new CBA next summer with the changes to restricted free agency dates. And he'll get better offers after a healthy year in Europe. So no need to sign a QO when he comes back. The new CBA changes and a healthy year means he's better able to force the Rockets to let him walk next summer, or a least pay him more.

Post #16 » by **Smitty731** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 1:25 pm

Mr. E wrote:
Smitty731 wrote:Motiejunas has standing offers from several clubs in Europe. He's as healthy as he's going to be. The back is a constant worry, but no more so than injuries that are worrisome for a lot of players.

He's still holding out to see if something pops in the NBA, but it is looking more and more like he'll head to Europe for a year and then come back and go through the whole circus again next summer. But this time he may just sign the QO and gain his freedom in the summer of 2018.

Have you picked up any indications that he is not thrilled with the D'Antoni system? I'm hoping that is not the case because the way the Rockets are constructed now seems tailor-made for Motiejunas.

It is interesting to note that he has multiple offers in Europe. His camp has not seemed to advertise that; but then again they have been pretty tight-lipped (other than complaining (rightfully, IMO) about the RFA process).

From what I have heard he is actually excited about the system and what he could do in it. What he's not thrilled with is what he considers to be offers that are well under his value. And there seems to be some lingering resentment with how his rehab was handled. I don't have a lot of details on that, but have heard it enough that something seems to be there.

Post #17 » by **Slava** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 3:59 pm

Sign and trade for Yi?

Bentley1225 · Post #18 » by **Bentley1225** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:37 pm

With the injury to Beverly, I wonder they they will look to S&T him for a veteran PG on an expiring contract. Vasquez?, Calederon?, Rodriguez?,

spaceballer · Post #19 » by **spaceballer** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 8:51 pm

Slava wrote:Sign and trade for Yi?

Since the Lakers signed Yi over the summer, he's not trade eligible prior to Dec. 15th.

Post #20 » by **Mr. E** » Mon Oct 24, 2016 12:42 am

Bentley1225 wrote:With the injury to Beverly, I wonder they they will look to S&T him for a veteran PG on an expiring contract. Vasquez?, Calederon?, Rodriguez?,

I think that would be incredibly short sighted considering that Beverley will be out only around 4-6 weeks and KJ is emerging as a good third guard in the system. There's no need to do a panic move for a gap which may not be as critical as perceived at the moment.